Ton van Zutphen (Antonius Franciscus) in Neuss am Rhein and the Drachenfels / in Germany / March 2014

Ton van Zutphen (Antonius Franciscus) in Neuss am Rhein and to the Drachenfels in Germany / March 2014

(in the footsteps of his father Franz and the family)

 Numerous times in the past six months did I pass through Neuss am Rhein by train…always reminiscing about my father who was born there on 6^th November 1906 and who lived in this quiet  town for about 10 years. With a few days off around the Carnaval I decided to go and have a look at the area in which he grew up. Growing up as a boy must have meant roaming the streets with short leather trousers on, unkempt hair, a snotty nose, talking to the milkman who supplied the milk on a horse driven cart, shopping for groceries and taking the veggies home with mother, playing football for FC Neuss, and going to Froebelgarten and primary school. Grandma and pa had 5 children, 2 girls and 3 boys, my father being the youngest (see pic below). They were well settled in the industrial area of Neuss just a few blocks east of the railway station. I walked under the steel arched railway bridge into the Further Strasse and into the Kolping Viertel where the family lived. My father, aunts and uncles must have walked the same road thousands of times….. In some parts the original cobbled streets are still there to see and feel. The area was built around smokestack industries which provided the finer supplies necessary for the heavy industries of the Ruhrgebiet (coal and iron). The family looked well off …but decided to return to the Netherlands (a neutral country 1914-1918) when World War 1 broke out.  I have always realized how lucky the 60-70 generation was: we have never seen a war, even close to us (apart from the Balkans)…whereas my father and his family went through both World Wars.

And here I was for 2 hours walking through the Kettelerstrasse (I believe the family occupied house with #3), Roemerstrasse, Frankenstrasse, and the Kolpingstrasse. Some of the houses have their dates of construction still clearly marked on them…in particular those before 1914. Just note that is about one century ago that my father as an 8 year old boy played in those streets.

back from left Martin, grandmother Anna, Dina, Grandfather Anton, Anna

front from left Johann and to the right my father Franz (8 years)

 

I believe our ancestral home was the second one...#3

 

I want to thank my nephew Henk in Bergharen (NL) who provided the older pics. Mine below are showing how the Kettelerstreet looks like in 2014.  Who knows, we’ll get as a family more interested in finding out the details of that Neuss period in the life of my grandparents with their children.

                                                                            

 

                                                                                       

obviously the street has had a few facelifts, but the essential elements of the houses can be recognized

 

Then my father when I was a boy, talked often about the Rhine, Bingen, die Lorelei, das Siebengebirge and the Drachenfels…that steep climb from Koenigswinter or Rhoendorf to the ruins of a mediaeval castle. It is said here in Bonn that this Drachenfels was the highest mountain in the Netherlands between 1960-1980…because of all the Dutch that came and visit. And one tradition still exists: donkeys will take you up for a few bucks. I went last Sunday again knowing to follow my father’s footsteps. A great walk with beautiful weather; a good and healthy sweat, from Rhoendorf upwards and then descending to the Rhine Southwards. A roundtrip from my apartment in Bonn Friesdorf with two ferries to take, is about 15 kms with 500 meters denivelation.

It feels good to be in Germany / along the Rhine. I am ever so grateful.

tonvanzutphen@gmail.com